The unkind child

IT MAY be named after Jesus, but El Niño (“The Child”) shows no mercy. Its chief victims are some of the poorer countries and areas of South America, starting with Peru. The last big Niño, in 1982-83, had catastrophic results for the country. In 1983, Peru's GDP plunged by 12%. That was partly because of the drying up of foreign credit provoked by Mexico's debt default in 1982, but El Niño's disruptive effect on the climate played a big role too: agricultural output fell by 8.5%, while production in Peru's economically vital fishing industry fell by 40%.